Each year we hold a special Fiesta to welcome back TORn alumni, celebrate all the folks who are regulars here, and maybe even even lure out a lurker or two!

Feel free to tell some stories about your experience on TORn, express your excitement for the upcoming Hobbit trilogy, or even just talk about your past week and/or upcoming weekend; and, as always, please also feel free to choose your food/drink/music/etc.! :)

Altaira's Homecoming Fiesta Retrospective:

Homecoming Fiesta threads started in the last year of the first age of the message boards (a few months before the new boards came to be in February 2007). Board members took a vote and decided early- to mid-November [Friday nearest to Veteran's Day] would be a good time to have it because there aren’t any major holidays or Tolkien milestones around this time of year.

Sadly, we don’t get as many oldies as we used to because some of the oldies who used to alert other oldies have also sailed to the west. However, they all continue to be welcome here whether it be at Homecoming Fiesta time or any other time throughout the year.

2006 (1st Homecoming Fiesta): thread gets so big it crashes the boards. A 2nd thread is necessary to free things up. In Home Page news, there were rumors MGM was in talks with Peter Jackson to make two Hobbit movies. The Two Towers complete recordings were released.

2007 (2nd annual Homecoming): First Homecoming Fiesta on the new boards. The Home Page had also been updated after a major crash lasting several days. In Home Page news, the feud between New Line and PJ was delaying Hobbit talks. ROTK Complete recordings were released.

2008 (3rd annual Homecoming): By this Homecoming, we ‘knew’ PJ would produce The Hobbit and Guillermo Del Toro would direct, the Hobbit Movie board was new and the boards were approaching 3,000 new members.

2009 (4th annual Homecoming): FOTR at Radio City; Bilbo casting rumors abounded on the internet; Ian McKellen announced he has read the script for The Hobbit, and we were all looking forward to filming starting in the spring of 2010.

2010 (5th annual Homecoming): Del Toro is out and Jackson is *back* in. A number of major roles have been cast. The boards, especially the Hobbit board, are hopping, getting up to over 800 posts per day overall at times. The boards surpass 5500 registered users.

2011 (6th annual Homecoming): Filming is in full swing both in the studios and on locations all over NZ. The boards went crazy when images of the Dwarves and Bilbo were revealed. Jackson has just released his 4th video blog as he shares the progress of characters, sets and technology. At a random check, the boards had over 900 viewers in a 15-minute period and had exceeded 7,080 registered users!

2012 (7th annual Homecoming): The addition of a 3rd Hobbit movie, publishing the TORn Hobbit magazine, our shiny new Home Page, Hobbit trailers, MrCere on location during filming, we're only a few weeks away from the opening of the first movie, etc. Wow, what a fun 2012 we've had!

"Desperation, needing You; every last breath I scream for You. Shatter me into a million pieces, make me new. ... Break me, mold me, make me what You want me to be; I am Yours, for You to use, so take and replace me with You."Family Force 5.

"Under a light in Bethlehem, I was sifting through the sand; the saline burned my eyes, I was looking for Your hand. I gave up on myself, and left my pride disarmed; I cried out 'I'm alone!' and found myself in Your arms. 'Rest in Me, oh, My love; I have loved you before the world began. Rest in Me, oh, My love; you'll never wander too far to reach My hand.'"Showbread.